Lakeland Author Gains Acclaim for 'Foundlings' Series

Some might regard this as a darkly triumphant era for vampires. Rich Garcia, though, considers the undead blood suckers to be in a period of eclipse.

By GARY WHITETHE LEDGER

Some might regard this as a darkly triumphant era for vampires. Rich Garcia, though, considers the undead blood suckers to be in a period of eclipse.The phenomenal popularity of the "Twilight" series, the vampire-themed romantic novels written by Stephenie Meyer and adapted into a lucrative movie franchise, has elevated vampires to a lofty roost in popular culture. But Garcia, a Lakeland resident, finds the books and movies oddly bloodless."I didn't like the whole ‘Twilight' series," Garcia said. "It just didn't have that whole vampire feel to me."Garcia could have taken the lazy route, expressing his distaste through snarky postings on "Twilight" fan websites. Instead, he decided to rescue the vampires.Garcia published his first book, "The Foundlings," in June 2011. In the novel, he establishes a complex society of vampire tribes with varying origins and motivations, centering on the titular clan, a misfit sect that faces potential extermination from other vampires.Though "The Foundlings" hasn't challenged the "Twilight" books in sales or publicity, Garcia has gained some national attention. The self-published novel earned second place in fantasy fiction in the 2011 awards from ReaderViews.com, a website that provides publicity for fledgling authors.Garcia, in his early 40s, has since published a sequel, "The Beasts Within," along with two companion books. He is at work on the third novel in the "Foundlings" trilogy.It might never have happened if not for some conversations Garcia had with a former co-worker a few years ago.Garcia works as a supervisor at a travel agency, and Amy Dewalt of Lakeland used to be one of his colleagues. During their breaks, they wound up discussing the "Twilight" books, and Garcia said he had an idea for a vampire book of his own."He started telling me about the story and I said, ‘Rich, you need to write this down because it's a really good story,' " said Dewalt, now a language arts teacher at Lake Gibson Middle School. "He started bringing me a chapter a day, and I would go on my lunch and read it and half the time I would come back crying and mad at him because he killed off a character I liked."

LONG GERMINATIONGarcia started creating vampire stories, including the seed for "The Foundlings," when he was a high school student in New Jersey. He continued writing over the years but said he had never really considered compiling the stories into a book until Dewalt — whom he calls "my muse" — prodded him to do so.Garcia has worked a variety of jobs since settling in Lakeland in 1993. He has been a fry cook, an accountant and a hotel manager. These days, he generally works from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the travel agency and does his writing in the hours after his shift."The Foundlings," a 463-page book, is set in the present. The story revolves around Donnie and Abbie, romantically attached members of the Foundlings, a line of vampires accidentally created when a vampire kills a human by consuming too much blood.Foundlings are violently pursued by the pure vampire bloodlines, such groups as the Reich, the Victorians and the Inquisitors. In Garcia's conception, each bloodline originates with a historical figure: Heinrich "Gestapo" Muller for the Reich, child murderer Amelia Dyer for the Victorians and Spanish religious zealot Tomas de Torquemada for the Inquisitors.Garcia's vampire cosmology includes elements of Christianity, and each vampire line has a specific raison d'Ítre. The complex back story is one factor that differentiates "The Foundlings" and its sequel from, say, the "Twilight" books."In most vampire stories, they don't really explain why they exist and if they have a purpose," Garcia said. "In my stories, there is a significant purpose why they exist, and they have a job. They have a scheme they're working on that is actually a story line. It's a pretty diabolical reason why they're around."The author describes his books as " ‘The Lost Boys' meets ‘The Da Vinci Code,' " while his friend Dewalt labels them " ‘Twilight' for intelligent people.""The Beasts Within" continues the vampire story and introduces Native American shape-shifters.Garcia opted to publish his books under the name R.M. Garcia. He said he chose to use initials because most recent vampire books have been written by women, and he feared a detectably male author's name might scare off female readers.He said J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, employed the same gender-neutral strategy when she began publishing books in a genre dominated by male authors.

SCI-FI SALESMANSHIPGarcia said he considered seeking a traditional publisher but eventually decided to pay for publication, hoping to follow the path of Amanda Hocking, an author of paranormal young-adult fiction who self-published her first books before landing a $2 million contract from St. Martin's Press. Garcia used the print-on-demand company Ex Libris for the first novel and Create Space for the second. He has also published "The Vampir Manual of the Reich," a 30-page companion to "The Foundlings," and "The Codex of Vampiric Bloodlines," a slightly longer supplement to "The Beasts Within."Garcia, who has Puerto Rican ancestry and speaks fluent Spanish, expects to publish the third book in the trilogy, tentatively titled "Blood Consequences," next year, along with another short companion book.Garcia has promoted his books at sci-fi-oriented conventions, such as Necronomicon in St. Petersburg and TimeLord Fest in Tampa. Dewalt said her friend doesn't fit the stereotype of the socially inept sci-fi fanatic."He's a very personable person," Dewalt said. "He's a fun person. He's got a great sense humor and he's easy to talk to. He has no trouble talking to people he's never met before."As proof of that, Garcia said he met his fiancee, fellow author Lakisha Spletzer of Inverness, at Necronomicon in October 2011.While Garcia's sales remain modest, he has attracted some ardent readers. Here's a sample comment from a reader, Jennifer H., posted on his website (www.rmgarcia.com): "Everyone needs a copy! I don't really like Vampire stories and I can't put it down!""I have several rabid readers who hound me, wanting the next installment of the book," Garcia said.He tries to appease those fans by posting free, bonus chapters on his website.One of Garcia's former co-workers, Nahiroby Virguez, said she bought "The Foundlings" as a gesture of friendly support and then found she truly enjoyed reading it."When the book came out, we were just trying to help him out, so I bought the book and started reading and it turns out to be pretty interesting," said Virguez, who now lives in Fort Lauderdale. "He put a lot of historical events in the book that you can check on the website, the sources for the vampire line. To me it's really cool because it gets you to do more, not just read the book but you get to interact and do something else."Garcia said he hopes eventually to get a publishing contract and make enough from his writing to quit his day job. He also thinks the "Foundlings" series has definite movie potential.Dewalt agrees."I keep telling him he needs to send it to publishing companies," she said. "I think he's nervous about the replies he might get. He's willing to just do it on his own until somebody discovers him."Dewalt has an interest in seeing Garcia discovered that goes beyond mere friendly support. The author has made a promise to the woman who encouraged him to turn his ideas into books. Their agreement?"If I become super-rich and famous," Garcia said, "I have to buy her a house on Sanibel Island."

[ Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. ]

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